# Robot cost per hour in India: the real number > How to calculate the true cost of a robot hour in India: capital recovery, maintenance, energy, labour and utilisation, with two worked examples. Canonical: https://roboticsengineering.in/robot-cost-per-hour-india/ | Published: 2026-10-28 | Updated: 2026-10-28 | Author: Jignesh Panchal **A robot does not cost what you paid for it. It costs what it consumes every hour it exists, whether or not it is making anything.** Cost per robot hour is the number that decides whether a job should be quoted at ₹600 or ₹1,400, whether a second shift is profitable, and whether renting beats buying. Most cost models get it wrong in the same three ways. ## What goes into one robot hour - **Capital recovery.** The purchase price spread over its working life, plus the interest on the money. - **Maintenance and spares.** Preventive visits, consumables and the occasional repair. - **Energy.** The robot, the controller, and often the process equipment and extraction. - **Consumables.** Welding wire and gas, grinding wheels, paint, gripper jaws. - **Operator.** Even an automated cell needs someone to load, inspect and recover it. - **Floor space and utilities.** The square metres, compressed air and cooling the cell occupies. - **Engineering.** Programming, fixture changes and continuous improvement, spread across the hours. - **Insurance and compliance.** Small per hour, but real. ## The arithmetic for two very different cells ``` Case A: 10 kg handling cell, cell value INR 35 lakh Utilisation 4,000 hours per year, life 10 years Capital recovery, straight line 35,00,000 / (10 * 4,000) INR 87.5 /h Interest at 9% on average Capital 35,00,000 * 0.09 / 4,000 INR 78.8 /h Maintenance at 4% of value per year 1,40,000 / 4,000 INR 35.0 /h Energy, 0.9 kW average at INR 8.5 0.9 * 8.5 INR 7.7 /h Operator, one per two cells 30,000 * 12 / (2 * 4,000) INR 45.0 /h Consumables and gripper parts INR 12.0 /h Floor space, 25 m2 at INR 250/m2/month 25 * 250 * 12 / 4,000 INR 18.8 /h Programming amortised 1,50,000 / (5 * 4,000) INR 7.5 /h ----------- Cost per robot hour INR 292 /h Case B: 165 kg welding cell, cell value INR 1.34 crore Utilisation 4,500 hours per year Capital recovery 1,34,00,000 / (10 * 4,500) INR 297.8 /h Interest at 9% INR 268.0 /h Maintenance at 3.5% INR 104.2 /h Energy, 12 kW average at INR 8.5 INR 102.0 /h Operator, one per cell INR 80.0 /h Wire, gas and torch parts INR 140.0 /h Floor space, 80 m2 INR 53.3 /h Programming and fixture changes INR 15.0 /h ----------- Cost per robot hour INR 1,060 /h The gap is not the robot. It is capital intensity and process consumables. ``` ## Utilisation is the biggest lever Every fixed cost in that model is divided by the number of hours the cell runs. Run it half as much and the fixed part of the hourly cost doubles. | Hours per year | Shifts | Fixed cost per hour, 10 kg cell | | --- | --- | --- | | 2,000 | One | ₹420 | | 4,000 | Two | ₹210 | | 6,000 | Three | ₹140 | | 7,000 | Three plus weekend | ₹120 | *Fixed costs here are capital recovery, interest, maintenance and floor space. Consumables and operator cost scale with hours, so the total falls more slowly than the fixed part.* This is why a robot that runs one shift is often a worse decision than the same robot running two. The machine is the same; the cost per hour is half. ## The labour comparison people get wrong A ₹25,000 monthly wage is not a ₹25,000 cost. Add employer PF, insurance, bonus, leave cover, supervision and the cost of rework, and a loaded labour hour in an Indian plant commonly lands between ₹180 and ₹260. Add recruitment and training turnover, and the number rises again. So the 10 kg cell at ₹292 per hour is not competing with a ₹120 wage. It is competing with a loaded labour hour, plus the variation in output, plus the quality cost of a tired operator at the end of a shift. On a welding cell, the comparison also includes rework and the scarcity of skilled welders. The comparison should be per good part, not per hour. A cell that costs more per hour but produces a consistent part with no rework can still be the cheaper option. The [ROI guide](https://roboticsengineering.in/robot-roi-calculation/) works through that comparison. ## What the market charges for a robot hour Job shops and rental arrangements in India commonly charge or recover somewhere between ₹700 and ₹2,500 per robot hour, depending on the process, the payload and whether the price includes operator, consumables and programming. A welding job with wire and gas included sits at the top; a simple pick-and-place with the customer supplying material sits near the bottom. If you are quoting work, build the rate from your own numbers rather than copying a market rate. The [rental guide](https://roboticsengineering.in/industrial-robot-rental-india/) covers what a rental actually includes, and the [robot cost guide](https://roboticsengineering.in/industrial-robot-cost-india/) covers the purchase side. ## The three mistakes in most cost models - **Using the purchase price without the rest of the project.** The cell cost includes fixtures, safety, engineering and commissioning. Use the whole project value from the [integration cost guide](https://roboticsengineering.in/robot-integration-cost-india/), not the robot invoice. - **Assuming best-case utilisation.** Budget 75–85% of available hours, not 100%. Changeovers, breakdowns and no-demand days are real. - **Ignoring interest and opportunity cost.** Capital tied up in a robot is capital not spent elsewhere. At 9%, that is a real hourly charge. ## How to reduce the number - **Run a second shift before buying a second robot.** The first robot is already paid for. - **Cut changeover time.** Quick-change fixtures and stored programs add hours of productive time without capital. - **Fix the small stops.** Misfeeds and sensor faults destroy utilisation quietly; the [maintenance checklist](https://roboticsengineering.in/robot-maintenance-checklist/) and an OEE review catch them. - **Check the energy base load.** Compressed air leaks and idling equipment often cost more than the robot; the [energy guide](https://roboticsengineering.in/robot-energy-consumption-india/) has the method. - **Keep spares for the parts that stop the cell.** The [maintenance cost guide](https://roboticsengineering.in/industrial-robot-maintenance-cost-india/) lists the short list worth stocking. ## Using the number in a quotation For welding quotations, convert hourly costs into accepted output with the [MIG weld cost-per-metre model](https://roboticsengineering.in/weld-cost-per-metre-india/). It separates deposited metal, wire, gas, arc time and scheduled time, and shows why rejected length changes the result. When you quote a per-part price, the sequence is: cycle time from the [cycle time calculation](https://roboticsengineering.in/robot-cycle-time-calculation/), cost per hour from this model, then add material, overhead and margin. If the cycle time is wrong, the hour rate cannot save the quote. ``` Per-part cost build-up, 10 kg cell Cost per robot hour INR 292 Cycle time, 90 s including load 1.50 min Robot cost per part INR 7.30 Material and bought-out parts INR 84.00 Fixture and tooling amortisation INR 2.20 Inspection and packing INR 3.50 Overhead at 12% INR 11.64 -------- Cost per part INR 108.64 Margin at 18% INR 19.56 Selling price INR 128.20 At 60,000 parts per year, a 10-second cycle time error equals 166.67 hours of cell time, or about INR 48,667 at INR 292/hour. A 10% error in the cost per hour is worth about INR 44,000. Check both. ``` **What is the cost per hour of running an industrial robot in India?** Indicative figures are ₹250–400 per hour for a small handling cell and ₹900–1,200 per hour for a large welding cell, including capital recovery, maintenance, energy, operator and consumables. Utilisation changes the fixed part of the cost dramatically. **How many hours a year should I assume for a robot?** Plan on 75–85% of available hours. A two-shift operation of about 4,000 productive hours a year is a reasonable base case, not 7,000 theoretical hours. **Is a robot cheaper than a worker in India?** Not per hour. A loaded labour hour is often ₹180–260, while a robot hour is higher. The robot wins per good part, through consistency, output and the avoided cost of rework and scarce skills. **What is usually left out of a robot cost per hour?** Interest on the capital, the integration and fixture cost, realistic utilisation, programming time and changeover losses. Each of these raises the true hourly cost. **How do I reduce the cost per robot hour?** Run more hours on the same machine, cut changeover time, eliminate minor stops, fix compressed air leaks and keep critical spares. Utilisation and availability matter more than negotiating the robot price. ## Sources and further reading - [A3 Association for Advancing Automation](https://www.robotics.org/) — robot economics and total cost of ownership resources. - [International Federation of Robotics](https://ifr.org/) — automation investment and productivity data. - [Bureau of Energy Efficiency](https://beeindia.gov.in/) — industrial energy benchmarks used in the energy cost line. - [ISO 9283](https://www.iso.org/standard/22244.html) — performance criteria that affect achievable cycle time and quality.